At the top of Monday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer touted objections to the indictment of former Democratic Senator John Edwards: "Som e critics blast the government's case against the former presidential c andidate. Why they say what he did may not have been against the law." Introducing a later report on the scandal, fellow co-host Meredith Vieira similarly proclaimed: "There are growing questions over the indictment of former presidential candidate John Edwards for allegedly using campaign funds to hide an affair. Did the government overreach?" The headline that appeared on screen read: "Bad Guy or Bad Case? ; Legal... continue reading
Looking at government as the best job creator, on Sunday's This Week ABC's Christiane Amanpour pushed her guests to agree the stagnant economy and growing unemployment argue for less concern about controlling federal spending and demonstrate the need for 'another stimulus' big spending effort. Amanpour was undeterred by the failure of the ongoing 'stimulus' spending pushed by President Obama. 'With the political wars over the debt, there is no chance for another stimulus,' reporter John Berman regretted in a set-up piece before Amanpour pleaded with Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers: Is this kind of... continue reading
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams seemed to take smug delight Friday night in pointing out how Sarah Palin's off-the-cuff recounting of Paul Revere's ride was at odds with the correct history, smirking that Palin's version "already has tongues wagging." Williams interest was unique - neither the CBS Evening News, anchored by Harry Smith, nor ABC's World News, with ex-Democratic spin doctor George Stephanopoulos filling in for Diane Sawyer, thought Palin's error was worth even mentioning. And Williams himself - even though he generally works with a pre-written script, in contrast to Palin's impromptu remarks in Boston - has had... continue reading
Both "scandals" of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) carried much more weight Thursday than on Friday, but ABC's Good Morning America continued hitting Christie Friday for his use of a state helicopter to attend his son's baseball game. However, the network's morning show dropped the Twitter scandal of Rep. Anthony Weiner from its newscast. Although Gov. Christie wrote a personal check to the state Treasury Thursday to cover the travel expenses, ABC's focus on the story was largely negative and still centered on the scandal itself. Anchor George Stephanopoulos admitted that "he's used the helicopter... continue reading
Upon the New York Times' announcement that Managing Editor Jill Abramson would succeed Bill Keller as executive editor in September, Abramson spoke to Times media reporter Jeremy Peters and compared the paper to holy writ : Ms. Abramson said that as a born-and-raised New Yorker, she considered being named editor of The Times to be like "ascending to Valhalla." "In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion," she said. "If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth." The quote raised eyebrows among Times' critics, already suspicious of the paper's liberal, secular stands. But at some point... continue reading
As news broke of Dr. Jack's Kevorkian death on Friday, MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing invited on defense attorney and friend Geoffrey Fieger to praise the convicted criminal known as 'Dr. Death': "Dr. Jack Kevorkian will be looked at as a hero, a true hero, and as a martyr for what they did to him for nine years. Putting him in prison..." [ Audio available here ] Jansing began the interview by wondering about Kevorkian's legacy: "Was he a dying patient's savior or a cold-blooded killer?" As soon as she introduced Fieger, he immediately argued: "I doubt very many people will... continue reading
An otherwise straightforward report on bad economic news on Friday's NBC Today cited economist Diane Swonk, who argued government stimulus prevented things from getting worse: "We basically had a massive coronary during the financial crisis....Financial stimulus and monetary stimulus, you know, got us to the stage where we're healing but we're in still in a lot of rehab." Correspondent Tom Costello set up the sound bite by declaring: "To get things moving, the government has already cut payroll taxes while the Fed has pumped in $600 billion of stimulus money." He lamented: "But more government spending is unlikely given the... continue reading
On Friday's Early Show, before the new 9.1% unemployment figure came out, CBS's Dean Reynolds bewailed how President Obama is being " saddled " by the " stubbornly sluggish economy ." Reynolds played up how "GM, Ford, and Chrysler have all returned to profitability," and tracked down a beneficiary of the auto industry bailout, who sang the praises of the Democrat [ Audio clips from Reynolds's report available here ]. The correspondent visited the Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, which the President is scheduled to visit later on Friday, and led his report with his lament for Mr. Obama, setting... continue reading
Liberal replaces liberal at the top of the New York Times masthead. The paper announced today that Jill Abramson would become the Times' new executive editor as of September 6, replacing Bill Keller, whose liberal record at the paper Times Watch documented earlier . Abramson likened the paper to holy writ, telling the Times' Jeremy Peters this morning that being named editor was like "ascending to Valhalla": "In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion...If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth." Abramson's bias goes back to her days as a reporter for the Wall Street... continue reading
In a surprise announcement, Bill Keller is resigning as New York Times executive editor as of September 6. He will be replaced by Jill Abramson, the paper's managing editor, Jeremy Peters reported on nytimes.com Thursday morning . Keller will still write for the paper: "As for Mr. Keller's plans, he said he was still working out the details of a column he will write for the paper's new Sunday opinion section, which will be introduced later this month." Abramson will be the first woman to run the Times newsroom in the paper's 160-year history. For Abramson, the Times is holy... continue reading